Lot was Abraham's nephew. His father was Haran, Abraham's brother. Two main things happened in Lot's life when he was young. The first was that God appeared to his uncle Abraham and called him to come out of his country and kindred. This was a great thing to Abraham which he must have talked about to his whole family. The second thing that happened was that Lot's father died. So when Lot's grandfather tried to help Abraham answer Lord's call he brought Lot along as well. They traveled together to a place that was also called Haran.
At Haran Abraham's father also died. Then the Lord appeared to Abraham again. This time Abraham answered the Lord's call but not completely. The Lord called Abraham to come out of his country, kindred, and his father's house but Abraham brought Lot, a member of his father's house, along. There is no hint that Lot chose to go, he simply went along with his grandfather and uncle. He was following the Lord passively only because he was with his uncle.
Lot was with his uncle when Abraham came into the good land, called on the name of the Lord, and built an altar to the Lord. Lot was just there, he didn't do any of those things himself. He was still with his uncle when he went down to Egypt. When Pharoah gave a large present of flocks, herds and servants to Abraham, he gave a similar present to Lot as well. Lot got these gifts simply by being associated with his uncle.
When they came back into the good land Lot's servants began to quarrel with Abraham's. The problem was there wasn't enough pasture in one place for all their flocks and herds. Abraham didn't want to quarrel so he let Lot choose whatever part of the land he wanted. This is the first time the Bible tells us about Lot choosing anything.
Lot didn't pray to ask the Lord what He wanted. He also didn't consider his uncle Abraham and how much he had done for him while looking after him all those years. Lot only looked to see what seemed like the best part of the land and took that. The part that looked the best was the plain around Sodom so Lot moved in that direction. Sodom was a very sinful city. As Lot was getting closer to it he was getting closer to being snared by sin.
It didn't take too long before Lot was living right in Sodom. While he was there he was not peaceful, the sin bothered his conscience every day but he still stayed there. He was not willing to move away. One day an army came and defeated the kings of the plain where Sodom was. Lot and his family were taken captive. If their uncle Abraham had not rescued them they would have been slaves in a foreign land. This should have been a warning to Lot that he was not in the right place but he went back to live in Sodom again.
Not too long after that the Lord sent two angels to judge Sodom. When they came to Sodom Lot was sitting at the gate. Even though they looked like men both Lot and the others who saw them must have realized that there was something special about these men. Lot invited them to stay in his house for the night. While they were eating the men of Sodom came wanting to with Lot's guests. Lot tried to appease them by offering to let them do whatever they wanted to his two virgin daughters. It was not right for him to offer to sacrifice them. Instead the angels pulled Lot back into the house and struck the men of Sodom with blindness so that they couldn't find the door.
In the morning the angels told take his family and flee to the mountains because the Lord was going to judge Sodom and all the cities of the plain. Lot tried to tell his sons-in-law about the Lord's judgement but they thought he was joking and would not come out of Sodom with him. Lot was hesitating so the angels took hold of the hands of him, his wife, and his two youngest daughters and pulled them out of the city. They didn't have chance to take much with them but they still managed to bring wine. This also shows what was important to them and what kind of life they were living.
The angels told Lot and his family to flee to the mountains but Lot asked if they could flee to a little city near by. He still didn't take God's judgement that seriously. While they were fleeing the Lord rained fire down on Sodom and all the cities of the plain except the one to which they were fleeing. Lot's wife looked back towards Sodom. She still loved that place and her children who were still there. When she looked back the Lord turned her into a pillar of salt. This also was the Lord's judgement.
When they saw what was happening Lot and his two remaining daughters were too afraid to remain on the plain. They fled to a cave on the mountain side overlooking the plain. As far as they could see the whole earth had been destroyed and they were the only ones left alive. So Lot's daughters made him drunk and lay with him so that they could have children from their father. They thought of such a thing because they had been living in such a sinful environment. They each gave birth to a son and these sons became the forefathers of two nations. The Lord was disgusted with such a dirty origin and judged them saying that none of them could be received into the congregation of the Lord for ten generations.
Why did Lot go to the good land?
How was this different from Abraham's going to the good land?
Verses in the Bible that refer to this story: Gen. 11:31; 12:4-5; 13:1-13; 14:12, 16; 19:1-38; Deut. 23:2-3; Luke 17:28-29, 32; 2 Pet. 2:6-8; Jude 7